Tag Archives: 2017

2016 has been a rough year for everyone. We’ve witnessed the wholesale humanitarian disaster in Syria and Libya while world powers bicker and back proxy warfare, we’ve lost celebrities left and right, and on a personal note, I grew less satisfied with my personal and career growth as the year pressed on. Yes, that problem is the epitome of privilege. I am fortunate to be worried about ‘growth’ when many in this world don’t have a place to call home.

I spent the majority of 2016 working on myself, and seeking a new job that would afford me the free time to pursue my hobbies and business endeavors. While field biology has been a rich and rewarding experience, I have come to understand how valuable my time truly is. I could justify working 80+ hours a week in 2015, a year where I tried to heal my personal hurt with a full work schedule and no time to worry about the past. That was literally tearing me apart. I set a personal goal in 2016 to change my life; to take leaps of faith and in turn build a better man. I am happy to say that although it was slow going, I am feeling the winds of change and I am letting the sails down to catch them.

I’ve met some incredible new people, started a few incredibly promising businesses, and landed an awesome new job – I am now the IT specialist for three departments in the College of Agriculture, Food and Environment. It’s a position filled with promise and a little bit of stress (but good stress – I am the go-to IT guy, so the buck stops with me!) and with a full-time position comes some awesome perks – better pay, a 40-hour work week, health insurance, 401k match and the like. I am going to be able to build my IT skills and advance my career with the experience I gain here, all while having the time again to pursue my creative and entrepreneurial endeavors.

Yes, 2016 was a hard year for almost everyone – but if you look long enough, I am sure you had some great times too.

2016 at a glance (Highlights)

Gained the courage to actually get to know and put myself back on to the dating scene (results are mixed, but it’s a start, haha)

Spent three holiday weekends with family that I don’t get to see that often

Cut down on sugars (mostly in drinks) and lost 20lbs, 2 pant sizes, making more conscious food choices (mainly portion control)

Moved by myself for the first time, and found a place that saves me so much money that I can save for a down payment to buy a place in Lexington sooner rather than later (my goal is this is my last rented apartment here)

2017 Goals

I am going to learn to rock climb

I am getting in better shape

I am going to start taking more classes (online or in person) to develop programming, IT, and outdoor skills

The Con Bros will host more parties and attend more cons

I will FINALLY get my video editing backlog cleared out

Bluegrass Expeditions will start booking reservations and taking trips in the spring

I will make significant headway in saving to purchase a house in Lexington

A powerful message on the decline in face to face interactions as a result of our increasingly self-focused society. Something to think about, especially as we enter this time of the year where connecting and celebrating with family and friends becomes even more important.

As an introvert, I often have to force myself to go above and beyond my comfort zone to spend time with others, but it helps me to stay grounded in a world that seems often times very distant and insensitive. Stay grounded, and don’t rush for the outlet the next time your gadgets land in the ‘redzone’ – embrace it.

This is honestly one of the best videos I’ve seen in a while. If you are a pokemon fan like I am (and especially when the games came out back in the mid to late 90’s) you’ll appreciate this. It’s got some salty language, but it’s all in good fun!

The “meme,” a term coined by evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins in 1976, is an extension of Darwin’s Big Idea past the boundaries of genetics. A meme, put simply, is a cultural product that is copied. We humans are enamored of imitation and so become the ultimate “meme machines.” Memes—pieces of culture—copy themselves through history and enjoy a kind of evolution of their own, and they do so riding on the backs of successful genes: ours.